1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a heat utilizing system using an internal combustion engine, and more particularly to a preferable one to be applied to a system using a heat transfer medium contained in a vessel, for feeding hot water, cooling or heating a room in a house.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, when an internal combustion engine is used as a power plant, a shaft output amounts to only 25-30% of the input fuel, and the remainder is thrown away as unused. Even if waste heat is to be recovered, expensive heat exchangers, circulation pump and the like are required, and additionally, heat radiating loss to the surroundings and heat exchange loss are unavoidable, whereby the working efficiency was low. In addition, the system has been complicated and expensive because of the piping connection system.
For this reason, there have been proposed systems, in which an internal combustion engine being used as a power plant is directly immersed in a vessel containing therein a heat transfer medium to thereby utilize the waste heat from the internal combustion engine. An example of such proposals is Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 26102/82 published on June 7, 1982. However, in the system described in this Publication, an internal combustion engine is secured to the bottom surface or a side wall of a vessel and an output shaft portion of this internal combustion engine penetrates through the side wall to outside, whereby the noises of secondary vibrations of the vessel due to the operation are high so that the effects of reducing the noises and vibrations obtained by the immersion of the engine into the heat transfer medium (for example, water) will be decreased to a considerable extent. In addition, it is difficult to absorb the vibrations and displacement and secure the sealing (against the water leakage) in the penetrating portion, and to perform the maintenance works such as the inspection, repair and the like of the internal combustion engine. Furthermore, the noises are high from the fact that a refrigeration machine or a compressor driven by this internal combustion engine is exposed to outside. Hence, necessity has been voiced for the noise control measures for the system as a whole.